Christians call it forgiveness. Buddhists call it detachment. The wise people of the world have taught us that it is important to learn to let go.

Many of us have heard the story about the monkey and the jar trap. A monkey found a sweet fruit in a jar. He put his hand in the jar to pick up the fruit but when he tried to pull his hand out again, he was trapped. The knot of his fist together with the banana would not pass back out of the mouth of the jar. Only by dropping the fruit could he set himself free.

Sometimes our magic can’t take off because a weight we are carrying blocks it from manifesting. That weight may come in many forms: clinging to happiness, negative emotions, expectations, wanting it now. Whatever the weight we are carrying, when we put it down, the energy that was tied up in carrying it is suddenly available to us. We can direct that energy to any of the changes we are working magic to make in our lives.

Clinging to happiness: Life’s constant changes pull us away from the moments of calm and fulfillment we wish could last forever. Contracting around happiness works in the same way as contracting around deprivation. Whatever it is we cling to, that clinging itself stops up the energy of our lives. Any knot halts the flow of magic.

Negative emotions: All of us bear the scars from life’s blows. Even the smallest child has experienced disappointment and loss. The effects of our negative experiences begin to weigh us down, accumulating over time, tying up our energy and emotion.

It is important for us to let ourselves fully experience life. No emotion is bad in and of itself. Anger gives us the strength to endure in the face of opposition and to change what needs to be changed. Grief acknowledges the consequences of deep losses. Even hate points to the places in our life where we need to protect ourselves.

At times though the feeling has outlived its purpose and is holding us back. There comes a moment in every experience, bad or good, when it is time to move on. The change has happened and the anger is no longer necessary. The grief lessens, making way for new connections to others. The hate has served its purpose and begins to sicken us.

Expectations: Sometimes what we need to release is an expectation. We realize we are not physically able to realize a youthful sports dream, or to have ten children, or to climb Mount Everest. No inheritance or lottery is going to come along to solve all our money problems. That person we loved desperately won’t return that emotion no matter what we do.

Schedule: Another kind of block is the requirement for something to happen on our timetable. What we need in that case is not to release the desire, but just to release the impatience, and let the event unfold in its own time.

Lust for result: Sometimes when we work magic we contract around the desire for the magic to be accomplished. We think about it, want it, worry at it constantly. In that case the energy of the magic may be tied up in fulfilling our emotional need for satisfaction or reassurance instead of going out into the world to make the result we want to happen.

Affirmation
I release the old to free energy for the new.

Practice: Open your hand
What weight are you carrying? What blocks do you see in your life? Are you holding onto old anger or expectations? Do you push your magic to happen when you want it to happen?

Write a sentence describing the block you need to release. Close your hand in a fist. Speak the sentence into your fist. Now turn your hand over and slowly open it, releasing the block. Take a deep breath, hold it, and release it. Speak the affirmation out loud, “I release the old to free energy for the new.” Make a note in your journal. Then do something nice for yourself—take a hot bath or shower, indulge in an afternoon nap, make yourself a pot of tea. Give yourself time to recover, relax, and get used to the new you!